Iraq war deaths plunged in ‘08
BAGHDAD
But the deaths of pair soldiers on the last day of the year underscored that significant violence persists. One soldier was killed by a mortar rotation in Baghdad and the other died from wounds sustained in combat a day earlier in Tikrit, the military said.
By compare, the war in Afghanistan saw U.S. soldiery deaths rise by 35 percent in 2008 as Islamic extremists shift their focus to a new front with the West.
According to a counterpart by The Associated Press, at least 314 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq in 2008, down from 904 in the antecedent year. In all, at least 4,221 U.S. soldiers take died in Iraq since the declared hostilities began in 2003.
In Afghanistan, 151 U.S. soldiers died in 2008, compared with 111 in the previous year, according to an AP tally. The count recorded 1,160 civilians killed in insurgency-related violence, up from 875. At least 625 U.S. soldiers have died because of the war in Afghanistan since the fighting began in 2001. The AP count is based on figures from Afghan, U.S. and NATO officials.
The combined lump of at least 465 U.S. deaths in both Iraq and Afghanistan for 2008 is the lowest combined total for both wars since 2003, when the U.S. invaded Iraq.
Many critics have said the U.S. point of convergence on Iraq led it to neglect the strife in Afghanistan, allowing both al-Qaida and Taliban extremists to regroup after being routed in 2001. The Taliban, in the last year, moved into wide swaths of Afghan countryside, where Afghan security forces or between nations troops don’t act. Military commanders in Baghdad say they have enough troops to achieve all battles unless not plenty to hold territory, or to keep remote villages unhurt.
Seth Jones, an analyst with the RAND Corp., said he thinks the insurgency is still quite weak because there is no central overlook mode of building and because it doesn’t have the cherish of local Afghans. But levels of violence have increased since of the continuing use of sanctuaries by the agency of extremist groups in Pakistan.
The plunge in constupration in Iraq follows the U.S. buildup of military force in 2007, coupled with a counterinsurgency campaign that included a decision by Sunni tribesmen to switch allegiances and fight al-Qaida. A focused striving to rout Shiite extremists gave U.S. and Iraqi forces the upper hand.
U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. David Perkins reported recently that attacks in Iraq had declined to an average of 10 a day from 180 a year gone, and the murder rate in November was less than 1 through 100,000 people
Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008579447_wardead01.html?syndication=rss
